COMMISSION TO HOLD BRIEFING ON INSTABILITY IN NORTH CAUCASUS

WASHINGTON—Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Co-Chairman Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), announced today the U.S. Helsinki Commission will hold a briefing on:

“Dagestan: A new flashpoint in Russia’s North Caucasus”

Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 10:00 a.m.

Room 1539 Longworth House Office Building

Dagestan, the largest republic in the North Caucasus, has joined Chechnya and Ingushetia on Russia’s security concern list. The recent increase in violence, human rights abuses, radicalization of the population, religious extremism, and a growing insurgency within the legal vacuum in Dagestan have grave implications for the entire southern periphery of Russia and the Caucasus region as a whole.

Daily reports from Dagestan document consistent attacks on authorities by armed gunmen, disappearances and murders of local residents, and acts of terror. In response to escalating violence, local authorities have responded forcefully by adopting counter-insurgency policies and methods reminiscent of the brutality seen in Chechnya and Ingushetia.